


Walking In The Night

by LadyofHeart



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 09:39:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20525891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyofHeart/pseuds/LadyofHeart
Summary: Despite himself, Felix finds it hard to not feel a little fond of Ashe.





	Walking In The Night

**Author's Note:**

> My writing is too soft to do Felix's character any justice I'm so sorry but I love this ship too much to not write for it.

It wasn’t uncommon for Felix to find himself restless come nightfall, and a few quick walks around the monastery were always a good way to tire his body and mind out, if his normal training exercises during the day just weren’t enough. Sometimes, he would stumble on other people walking about, even if students were supposed to be in their rooms come midnight, but he never paused to chat or see why they were out. He didn’t care.

A flicker of flame caught his attention from around the corner of the building. He paused so the person wouldn’t walk into him, but when they rounded the corner there was an unholy  _ screech  _ and the lamp was abruptly dropped, its flame going out the minute it touched the ground. Felix narrowed his eyes, only slightly surprised to see it was Ashe of all people.

“Oh Goddess!” he exclaimed, eyes wide. “F-Felix, it’s just you! Oh, you scared me half to death!”

“I see that,” Felix said. 

Ashe glanced down at the lamp and cleared his throat. “I, um, I was just coming back from the library. What are you doing out here?”

“Walking,” he said simply. Obviously. Normally, he would just carry on and walk right past him but, and he would never admit this to himself, he enjoyed having conversations with Ashe. 

“With no light?”

“I don’t need one. It’s not that dark.”

Ashe glanced up at the full moon that illuminated the monastery. His smile was sheepish. “I suppose it is. Was there anywhere specific you were walking? Could I walk with you?”

Felix blinked at him. “Weren’t you walking back to your room?” he asked, knowing that this was the direction to take. They weren’t even that far.

“Well, sure, but I like spending time with you too!”

Part of Felix’s heart swelled at hearing that, and another, much bigger part of him, realized Ashe was clearly lying about something or hiding something. He was good at neither.

He crossed his arms. “What’s your problem with walking back?”

Ashe puffed out his cheeks in a childish pout. “Okay, fine. Don’t make fun of me, alright? But it’s really dark and creepy here, and like, I don’t want to run into  _ ghosts _ or something.”

Felix snorted and opened his mouth to say something, but Ashe quickly cut him off.

“Don’t make fun of me!” he repeated, sounding petulant. “I mean,  _ you  _ made me drop the lamp, right?”

“I wasn’t going to make fun of you,” Felix said. “And that was your own fault. You don’t have to be so jumpy all the time.”

Ashe glanced away. “Sorry. Old habit.”

He didn’t like the momentary look of detachment that came upon his face. “Look, if you’re so worried about ghosts or whatever, I’ll just walk you back.”

Ashe’s face lit up. “O-oh, really? Thank you, Felix!”

“Yeah, well, next time don’t stay out so late if you’re too scared to walk back alone.”

Ashe kept close to him as they walked, their shoulders brushing. “I know, I really should have kept an eye on the time. But I was so engrossed in the book!”

“More knights?” Felix guessed in a dry tone.

Ashe chuckled. “Of course. It wasn’t a story I had read before, and it seemed so antiquated and foreign that, well, I just had to keep reading to the end!”

Ashe continued to ramble on about the book, and Felix watched the way he excitedly gestured with his hands and the spark in his eyes as he carried on with what he was most passionate about. It wasn’t like he really needed to contribute to this one-sided conversation, and no one was around to call him out for staring. Ashe was too absorbed in his talking to notice, either. If Felix were someone who deeply analyzed his emotions and actions, he might have been able to pinpoint why he liked to watch Ashe’s excited motions or the way his lips moved, but he wasn’t, so he indulged without questioning why.

A sharp wind blew through the monastery as a not so gentle reminder that winter was upon them. Ashe shivered next to him, looking small and delicate. 

“Well, looks like we made it,” Ashe said as they paused in front of his door.

“And not a ghost in sight,” said Felix. 

A small blush crept over his cheeks. “I guess not. You’re not going to stay out too late, right? It’s getting cold out.”

“I don’t need your concern,” was his knee jerk reaction. Luckily, Ashe was never pushed away by his terse nature and didn’t look too hurt about it. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Felix,” Ashe said before entering his room and closing the door behind him.

Felix stalled a moment.  _ I guess it’s a bit cold out here.  _ He didn’t want to deal with getting ill or anything, now that he thought about it. Well, walking Ashe back to his room was enough for him to tire out, so he headed back to his own. All the way back, he felt suspiciously like someone was watching him.

  
  
  
  
  


The minute Felix entered the dining hall for breakfast, Sylvain descended upon him with a not so sly and very stupid looking grin before he could even take a bite of his breakfast. Next to him, Ingrid was eagerly munching away on her sausages as if she hadn’t eaten in years.

“Sooo,” Sylvain said with his hands under his chin and elbows propped on the table.

Felix fixed him with a disgruntled look. “What.”

“You’re lookin’ a little  _ tired  _ there, Felix,” he said in a sing-song voice. “Like maybe you were out all night or something?  _ Hmm? _ ”

Ingrid managed to glance up from her meal. “What’re you two talking about?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” Felix said in deadpan.

Sylvain inched closer. If he did so again, Felix promised himself that he would shove him out of his seat. “Well, I know what  _ I  _ saw last night, and it was definitely you.”

Ingrid glanced at him. “What were you doing out?”

“Just walking,” he supplied. 

“Ah, but not alone!” Sylvain said. “I saw you with Ashe.”

Ingrid raised an eyebrow. “Is this supposed to be like a big revelation or am I missing something?”

Felix narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to make a comment, but Sylvain easily talked over him.

“Not a big deal by itself, I know, but you should’ve seen his face, Ingrid. He--”

“What, are you  _ stalking  _ me now?” Felix snapped. 

“I just happened to be around is all,” Sylvain defended. “I was gonna say hello, I swear, I’m not like watching you from behind bushes or something. That’d be weird. But you looked so relaxed for once! You were all blushy--”

“ _ Excuse me?” _

“--and you looked so attentive!”

He side eyed Ingrid as she stole a piece of bacon off his plate. “What were you two even talking about?” she asked.

He stood up, bumping the table as he did so and nearly knocking over Sylvain’s drink. He was not about to listen to this. Sylvain looked up at him with wide eyes, rightfully preparing for the beatdown he was about to get. Felix hadn’t decided if it would be verbal or physical yet. Maybe a bit of both.

“Felix?” Ashe’s concerned voice cut him off as he appeared, pausing on the other side of the table with his freshly prepared breakfast in hand. He had been in the middle of walking over to Annette and Mercedes. “Is something wrong? You look a little red…”

And then Sylvain burst out into laughter as if that was the best damn thing he heard all day. So Felix chose to do the rationale thing and shove Sylvain’s face into his breakfast before stalking out of the dining hall, ignoring Ingrid calling his name and telling himself that the heat of his face was only because he was  _ angry.  _ It was Sylvain’s fault. As most things were.

He trained to work off the frustration. Apparently his glare must have been extra terrible, because when Byleth and Dimitri tried to step in the training grounds, making eye contact with him sent them fleeing back out. Good. He didn’t want to be bothered. Only an hour later he felt eyes on his back, and when he turned around Ashe was there.

“What do you want?” he asked, wiping sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Ashe blinked at him, mouth slightly open and a small blush on his face. Felix blinked, suddenly struck with the feeling that he was definitely being  _ checked out  _ and that was not something he knew how to approach. “Well?” he demanded, ignoring the shake in his own voice.

“Oh, uh,” Ashe stuttered. He awkwardly held up his training bow. “Came to train.”

Felix gave a small  _ hmph  _ before turning back to face the training dummy he had been battering. He felt distracted by Ashe’s presence, stupidly, and tried to ignore the sounds of arrows lodging themselves in targets. When he glanced over, he saw that Ashe was mostly landing misses. Odd. His skill as an archer had always been relatively exceptional.

Ashe caught him looking and gave a nervous shrug. “Off day,” he said. “Oh, can I ask what that was all about back at the dining hall?”

Felix put his training sword down. “It’s none of your business. Did Sylvain tell you anything?”

“Sylvain? Well, no. But, uh, I probably shouldn’t have laughed at his face being covered in eggs and ham, so…”

Felix snorted. “He deserved it.”

Ashe tilted his head and smiled. “I’ll take your word on it.”

Going back to training only seemed to frustrate Felix more after that. He kept thinking about Sylvain watching him when he thought no one was looking while he stared at Ashe, and he especially kept thinking about Ashe, with that innocent smile and those delicate fingers wrapped around his bow, standing only a few feet from him. He left the training ground without a word and ignored the feeling of Ashe watching him as he went.

When night came he felt restless. He hadn’t been able to wear himself out with training, and he hated to just lay around and wait for sleep to overcome him, so naturally he took one of his walks, this time much more vigilant. It wouldn’t be  _ weird  _ to catch Sylvain walking back from town late at night, but if he saw him it was definitely going to disturb his night, and he just wanted a calming walk.

It didn’t last long, but at least it wasn’t Sylvain he ran into.

“You again?” Felix said when he caught Ashe walking past the greenhouse.

Ashe fixed him with a fond smile. “It would appear so. Can’t sleep? You left the training ground in a hurry today.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I had other things to deal with. Still sneaking off to the library?”

“I was just coming back,” Ashe said. He rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly. “Want to walk me back?”

Felix glanced around the area, but he couldn’t catch sight of anyone else nearby. He gave another casual shrug, even though he wouldn’t deny a little happiness at walking Ashe back to his room. He couldn’t really explain it, but he liked having Ashe there, and his voice was a welcome comfort in the dark night.

“You keep looking around like someone is going to pop out,” Ashe said, pausing in his explanation of some dumb knight story that Felix only half cared about.

“Yeah, well, walls have ears and all that,” he said. 

Ashe frowned and paused in front of his door. It felt like they had gotten there much sooner than Felix expected. Ashe looked up at him with round, pale green eyes, and he looked like he was on the edge of saying something. Was he inching forward? Felix quirked an eyebrow at him, and he quickly took a step back.

“Um, well, thanks!” Ashe said in an unusual rush. “Goodnight!” He closed his door before Felix could get a word in.

A mild disappointment settled itself in his chest, which he quickly ground into annoyance before he stalked off. He didn’t like the feeling of something being  _ right there  _ only to be quickly taken away.

He caught a flash of bright pink as he made his way back to his room.

“Hilda?” he called out.

She appeared from behind a pillar casually as if it were midday. “Oh, Felix! Fancy meeting you here.”

He crossed his arms. Had she seen him and Ashe? “What are you doing here?”

“Ugh, well if you  _ must  _ know, I forgot something in the classroom. If I knew you were awake, I would’ve just asked you to get it!”

He eyed her for a moment. He didn’t know her well though, so he couldn’t tell if she was lying or telling the truth. It didn’t matter; they weren’t relevant to each others lives, so he’d let her be. 

When morning came, he was not expecting Sylvain to be standing right outside his door, looking like the cat who caught the canary.

“What is it?” Felix asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Well, first of all, and I know it’s too much to ask for, but I’d  _ definitely  _ like an apology for getting a faceful of my breakfast yesterday.”

“No.”

“Okay, moving on, a little birdie told me about something interesting last night. Another walk with a companion, Felix?”

He gritted his teeth. “ _ Hilda.”  _ He should have known the two of them talked. What girl in the monastery  _ didn’t  _ Sylvain talk to?

Sylvain put an arm around Felix’s shoulder and coaxed him into walking down the hall. He stiffened under the touch. “The monastery is filled with connections,” Sylvain said. “Anyway. We have  _ got  _ to talk about Ashe. I mean, it’s not weird to see you wandering at night I guess, but him? That’s new. Do you think he’s doing it just so he bumps into you?”

“It was only twice,” Felix pointed out. But he liked the thought.

“So is third time going to be the charm? He’s crushing  _ hard _ , you know.”

“...I’ve noticed.”

“What, and you’re just letting it happen? Come on, aren’t you always so direct with everyone? Seems a little cruel to know and not say anything.”

He shoved Sylvain’s arm off his shoulder. “It’s not any of your--”

“It’s totally my business as your super wonderful self-designated best friend -- don’t look at me like that it’s true -- to be invested in all aspects of your life.”

Felix rolled his eyes. “If I catch you or any of your  _ cohorts  _ stalking us again, you’re gonna find yourself being invested in something very different.”

Sylvain shrugged. “Weak threat, but noted.”

Sylvain was definitely on to something though, because that night he deliberately went out and found Ashe roaming around. And the next night, and the next, and each time Felix walked him back to his room like he was some lost little lady.

On one of the nights, Ashe had emphatically pointed out how cold it was, and then grabbed Felix’s hand to prove how freezing his own fingers were, and neither of them had let go until they got back to Ashe’s room. At least they could blame the cold nights for their reddened faces. 

It was definitely starting to get ridiculous though, because staying awake during lectures was clearly becoming an issue for both of them. Not that Felix cared about lectures, but Ashe looked like he was going to cry from embarrassment when Byleth had called him out for dozing in the middle of class. 

“You have to stop this,” Felix said when they spotted each other again during the night.

Ashe blinked at him. “Late night trips to the library?”

Right, because that was all they were. “You’re falling asleep in class.”

Ashe ran a hand through his soft looking hair. “I know,” he said as they took their usual walk back to his room.

Felix sighed, not wanting to bring up what he should have mentioned weeks ago. “Look, Ashe--”

A strong wintry wind blew through the monastery. Ashe wrapped his arms around himself and sidled up next to Felix to get what little warmth he could. He shivered slightly.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” he asked innocently.

He stopped walking, and Ashe followed suit. “If you wanted to hang out with me, you didn’t have to wait until night every time to do it,” Felix finally said, feeling unusually flustered by his own words.

Ashe glanced away. “Ah. Well. I-I didn’t mean for it to be such a regular thing, honest. I really didn’t want to walk back alone those first few times! But, I also like walking back with you. No one can bother us or anything.”

Felix scratched the back of his head. “Like I said, you didn’t have to wait until night. If you wanted to…” he trailed off, unsure of what to say. He couldn’t speak for what Ashe wanted, after all. “Let’s hurry up, before one of us gets sick.” Ashe looked disappointed by this, and the rest of the walk was unusually quiet.

Per the norm, Ashe paused outside his door, always looking like he was on the edge of something. Felix expected him to say his goodnight and to repeat the same song and dance the next night, but Ashe was closer, on his toes, and it happened.

It was so chaste and quick that Felix could hardly call it a kiss, and of the two of them he at least knew what a real kiss was like, but Ashe looked so flustered and floored by his own actions that he knew it probably wasn’t a good idea to call him out on it.

Ashe blinked at him. “S-sorry! I shouldn’t--”

Felix could at least show him what a real kiss was like. He put his hand on his cheek and drew him closer, letting their lips meet for more than a second. Ashe’s lips were both cold and chapped and it felt nice to bring a little warmth back into them and feel the way his face heated up under the palm of his hand. When he finally pulled back, Ashe stared up at him like he was the sun. Felix couldn’t hold such earnest eye contact, but he made sure to keep his hand on Ashe.

“That was…” Ashe said.

“Was it okay?” Felix asked, suddenly unsure and not wanting to be taken for some fool. 

Ashe’s awe faded into a fond and familiar smile. “Of course. Honestly, I was so worried, I couldn’t really tell if you felt…” A shiver cut him off. “Do you want to come inside?” he offered. 

Felix couldn’t help his own small smile.

“I’d like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Every time I think I'm gonna take a break from fic a new idea hits me over the head. I hope none of it, especially Felix, was too OOC. I'd write more of him (i really wanna write more ashe/felix and dimitri/felix) if I wasn't so intimidated by his character haha
> 
> Find me on twitter @Lady_Of_Heart13 and hit me up if you wanna talk about Ashe and ships and stuff!


End file.
